Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-10-25
IN WHIRLIGIG OF TIME.
Of. and Little Mon Change Places
Bow wall Strset-A Group Of
Queer Characters.
abroad Again-Ths Birth Of
Burier Ksc.-ImpOrtation of PalPit
EIoqueuce,
., correspondence Kansas City Times.

oer characters and Wall street IS
Of GU .t that attracts many. Taking a
n'sa+ them at random there is Asbury
ien ~ of the C Consolidated exchange.
bN Kentuckisn by birth, about As
Dc = If age, has piercing black eyes,
yea nI,ng black beard, Is OF slender build
Jul - ar.T ak feet in height. He became
sD lions U in Ssn Francisco when only 20
no.o 0s NJ age. 1t was during the civil
!'a Ne WAS full of boyish enthusiasm
WEI .bo Confederacy and was arrested in
tol ~ Trsncjsco on charge Of plotting to
oAn .I-s with the aid of number Of 9TH
csP' .be treasure ships leaving that port
elsp,nsms and then escape to England
lOl nae the proceeds for the
anu sorsnce of the southern cause. The
Iu..aor;ties arrested him as the chief con-
su ,-.tor in this piratical enterprise, and
spI %,s convicted and imprisoned; subse-
n 01eptIy, however, being psrdoned He.
. ga embarked in real estate ventures
L l the famous Ralston of San Francis
W. Wv Who drowned himself on the doWnfall
~ Tine hank of California. Then Herpend-
u o. N INIT g block of buildings having a.
t iDs of 800 feet on Market street,
E.r Francisco. They took 1reasald he
oo COR the fire with the greatest compo-
wa mnxs comtorted by the thought OF the
anIe insurance on the property. His
cent il proved, however, had neglected
- insnre it and 8 fortune went up in
.Sa smoke and flames, burnt Offering to
~. ~. speculative gods. He came to New
Work eight years ago, plunged into mining
antornrises, promoted the development of
some South American mines, got IN low
~ tbe last mining boom and was very
successful. especially in the Comstock
Sb.res. For instance, he held considere-
Me Consolidated Virginia, for which he
n,id about 81, and which he sold at be-
tween $40 and $50, making it is under
stood nearly $4,000. He has had a
career full of strange vicissitudes; has
made and lost several fortunes, and
strange as it may sound has landed on his
feet. and is now worth a million or more,
He is man of indonitable resolution,
tnll of fight, undeunted under all circum-
stsnces, q stormy petIel OF speculation
who has rested at last on sun-lit peak.
He has specialized in railroad stocks,
mining shares or grain all his life, and is
one of million who has not been perma-
peutly overcome by the fatal undertOw
which threatens big and little on the spec
Native seas. He hiss had the cramp a
number of times, but his fiery Southern
blood has warmed him up to successful
struggle against the adverse current.
Walking up and down in brokers' office
and breathing out slaughter against some
r1bo o6 eli inc inn n
order he often presented queer spec
tacle. Sometimes Chicago brokers were
rather slow in reporting transaction,
and then the would-be buccaneer of the
Golden Horn would break into threats
suggestive OF Colonel Bowie: "I'n knife
'em, the - scoundrels. I'll kill 'em."
Henri Smith, the former millionaire
and once a big operator in stocks, but
now devotee of free lunch CounLers, may
be put down as one of the queer Wall
street characters. He fought Jay Gould
in numberless specuIations. Once he
said: "I'n make Jay Gould earn his liv-
ing With hand organ and monkey"
The remark was repeated to Mr.. Gould.
He smiled grimly and said nothing. When
Henry Smith failed for $5,0C0,000 Mr..
Gould remarked: "He might now try
the hand organ himself" Smith had
been engaged with Addison Cammsck
and Baron Woerishoffer in bear cam
paign, but his two associates had found
it prudent to cover their snort
sales. Smith overstayed his mar
ket as most operators do sooner or
later, and was crushed by the triumphsl
car Of the bulls. Jay Gould was the
driver, and he contemplated the mangled
remains of "Hen" Smith with philoso-
phical serenity. Smith had few friends,
and no one sympathiZ9d with him in his
mistortunes. In fact his failure was
celebrated by the manager Of one large
house with Sn abundance of cigars for
everybody in the establishment. He is
short sud slight, small in body and small
IN mind, purse proud and snobbish in the
days when he WAS worth $4,000
or $4,000, 600, and hated even then. To-
Day he Wsnders like c forlorr ghost in
The region Of Wall street, looked upon
VITA contempt by those who know that he
pulled down poor William Heath, his
broker, and that he has a soul of about
the dimensions of pin head.
William Heath may be remembered by
some. He was "Hen" Smiths broker
in his last great speculation, and was sent
70 Ludlow street Jail for some alleged
irregularities growing out of his financial
transactions, and which led to civil suits.
he died in Ludlow street jail q pauper,
While his rich wife was leading a gay life
IN Paris, woman who deliberately left
her husband to die poor and compara-
lively friendless. A more disgusting ex-
hioition Of fashionable heartlessness has
seldom been presented in real life. Heath
was man of ability, a gentleman In man
ner and education, and for years was
very successful.
John Tobin, once president Of the Hud-
son river railroad, and now about seven
" years OF age, is tall, stoop shouldered,
snsrp featured, and has keen, rst-like
eyes. He was once worth S5,000,000,
out Is now said to be specializing in the
oacket shops. He was in the heyday of
his fortunes at the beginning of the civil
war, and before the Hudson river road
was merged into the New YORK Central.
IL was time of wild speculation in gold
and stocks and everything else. The
Gambling mania broke out everywhere.
Iooin, it is said, dropped good deal OF
money with John Morrissey, the keeper
CI gambling resorts here and in
oaratoga. One night, it Is said, Tobln
lost large sum and gave Morrissey g
eaeck, but stopped it the next day. Nor
ElsSnV IN old